Chapter 6 - Rossi
Rossi set the captain down for a moment and wiped his forehead. If you die, you unbelievable bastard, I'll... Hefting the dead weight up once again, he laughed at himself as he began dragging, I'll make vague and impotent threats, I guess. The medical bay was right down this hallway, not much further. His eyes stung with sweat. His breath came ragged.
Technically he had no authority to tell even a junior officer what to do, so it was only a mild surprise to Rossi as he felt the sinking feeling in his stomach that meant the ship’s descent was accelerating. They were coming in for a landing. Rossi was relieved to still be alive of course, he'd rather be alive than right. But he knew the cost. With the approach botched, the bays would be vulnerable to ground fire as they deployed lances. The fools in the bridge likely thought of the deaths as acceptable losses, though. The captain moaned as they stumbled together over the doorway into the medical bay, just as the ship finally made contact with the ground.
When Rossi was young, the world had been a different place. Mostly a worse place, it had to be said. He'd never known his father as a serf, only as a freeman. The old man took such ridiculous pride in being exactly one rung up the social ladder from a slave. It was sickening.
Worse though was the contempt he had for his neighbors who were still tied to the land. To hear him tell it he'd earned his freedom saving the local Lord's son from being trampled by a bull. True or not, his father saw it as his greatest achievement. He certainly never seemed to care about blacksmithing. His shop would go days without the forge even being lit. Rossi had basically taken it over by the age of ten.
That same year the local lord had died. His son was widely known as a wastrel and a scoundrel, and it wasn't long before it was also widely known he was in debt. When neighbors were being freed by simply paying their impoverished Lord a pittance, Rossi's father never had anything but scorn for them.
"There they go, a jingle in their pocket so they don't have to worry about their duties no more. I tell you, boy, these men today. Nothing means a damn thing to them. They didn't earn none of it. They just took advantage. If I were his Lordship I'd toss the lot of the bastards." All said with a sneer of pure hatred. Rossi heard every word his father said, he certainly said it often enough. The words aside the real message was clear. Money could buy anything, even things that you didn't deserve.
When Rossi was fifteen his father had tried to arrange his marriage to some horse-faced daughter of a merchant from the town over. He'd left for the city that very night, what was left of his father's savings in his pack. He'd heard that any man could make a fortune there with just a few clever ideas.
The injured men in the medical bay were heaved upwards as the impact shuddered the room, straining against their straps. The medical staff and Rossi were tossed about the room, sending surgical equipment crashing to the floor. Rossi's head crashed hard against an upturned stool. Struggling to his feet he worked with the staff to get the captain strapped down in one of the beds. “Well?”
The doctor in charge clucked his tongue as he looked over the captain's injuries. “He's not dead yet. We may need to take his leg.” He turned to one of the apprentices, snapping his fingers. “My lancet, boy.” The apprentice scrambled around on the floor for a moment before coming up with a small surgical knife, wiping it on his apron as he handed to the doctor. “And the sutures. We'll do what we can, sir.” Rossi nodded. His vision blurring, he braced himself against the bulkhead and lowered himself to sit on one of the beds. “We'll have a look at you after we've seen to his Lordship.” The doctor turned back to the captain.
I'm not staying here to be poked and prodded by these vultures. Rossi quickly rose to leave but the room swirled around him. Falling back into the bed his eyes began to close of their own volition. Maybe just a bit of rest. A moment. He had to get back to the bridge and get them back in the air. Assuming the captain survived, he'd owe Rossi quite a bit. A hero like that might even get to meet the Duke or the King himself. As Rossi's eyes closed he allowed himself a smile. At last, a chance to really hurt them.
Chapter 1 - Rossi - https://steemit.com/story/@fromage/an-introduction-and-chapter-1-yasht-to-the-waters-of-the-sky
Chapter 2 - Pient - https://steemit.com/story/@fromage/chapter-2-yasht-to-the-waters-of-the-sky
Chapter 3: Marchele - https://steemit.com/story/@fromage/chapter-3-yasht-to-the-waters-of-the-sky
Chapter 4: Rossi - https://steemit.com/story/@fromage/chapter-4-yasht-to-the-waters-of-the-sky
Chapter 5: Marchele https://steemit.com/story/@fromage/chapter-5-yasht-to-the-waters-of-the-sky